Elementary Lacrosse Program

 

Prosper Youth Lacrosse is a volunteer based, non-profit recreation lacrosse club serving Prosper ISD students (and the surrounding communities without a program) for kindergarten through 8th grade. Our purpose is to grow the sport of lacrosse by giving any child the opportunity to play regardless of their skill level. We will provide opportunities that will increase the skill level of all our players ranging from beginners to the seasoned player by continuously improving and enhancing our coaching standards. Our goal is to advance lacrosse within the Prosper area and most of all, have some fun!

Our key initiative to grow lacrosse in our community is introducing this great game to elementary age kids across the entire district. To do so, we eliminated the barriers and created a turnkey solution for our PE coaches to help us grow the game.

• WE DON'T HAVE MONEY TO FOR NEW SPORTS. We purchased 100 youth jr lacrosse sticks and worked with a local tennis pro to acquire tubs of tennis balls that can be shared among each of the PE programs. 
• WE DON'T KNOW HOW TO COACH IT. We worked with several PISD coaches to create the curriculum that we can continue to modify. We then held a hour clinic where we invited all the coaches to come run through the first day lesson so that they could see it in action. We also send our Head coach to run the first two days of their two week lesson.
• WE HAVE 85 KIDS IN A CLASS, DO YOU HAVE MORE COACHES. We created the volunteer program with the local boys and girls high school team to provide several assistants to supplement the PE coaches to assist with the lessons.

As you can see, we broke down the biggest barriers (cost and experience) so that we could get lacrosse into the schools. We started this program in 2019 and ran into a big speed bump with Covid; however we have now attended 6 different schools. That's 800 kids at each school trying lacrosse for the first time. 

Regarding quick data on the success, our original school has spent two weeks a year for the past three years teaching the lacrosse unit. And it's not by accident that 25 percent of our players to date come from that one elementary school when there are 12 elementary schools in Prosper. Bottom line, it works!

Also, be sure to work with your kids PE coach. Talk to them and let them help sell the program into their curriculum director. From there, it just takes one school to kick it off and share with their colleagues about how amazing it is for their students. 

Please do not hesitate to reach out if you have any questions.

-Jason
972-768-5655
ProsperYouthLacrosse@gmail.com

 

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Equipment –music, sound system, lacrosse sticks, cones, poly spots, nets, lacrosse balls/tennis balls

Essential Question –How can I make my team better? What can I do to help other around me?

Objective –I can work together with my teammates. I will show good sportsmanship through lacrosse stations/games and encourage others. 

Warm up –We know you all already have your routine, it works great for lacrosse as well.

Lesson Activities:

Day 1:

Setup

• 6 lines – dots/cones every 5 yards across the gym.
• Goals/targets/trashcans on far wall
• Lay sticks next to the start of each line along with the buckets of tennis balls
• Note: post covid, we recommend having 2-4 High School lacrosse players volunteer to help demonstrate technique the skills and proper hand placements to the kids in the various lines.

Key Skills:

• Cradling
• Shooting

Introduction:

• Short video – 1 minute, intro to lacrosse and brief history. Play the first minute of this video: https://vimeo.com/345020007/37bf7bb7b5
• Ask questions to start the unit:
• Who invented it? [Native Americans]
• What did they call it? [Medicine Game]
• Why was it called the medicine game? [Because it heals you. If you are having a bad day, you can go out to play lacrosse in your backyard and start to feel better, clears you mind.]
• What is this (holding lacrosse stick up) up? [Lacrosse stick]
• Three parts to a stick – 1) head; 2) shaft and 3) bottom (butt end)
• Before we get started - Stress “lacrosse stick safety” and that the stick should not be used to make contact with another friend. And that they should look around them before making a pass or shot.
• Rules for the sticks: No stick should ever make contact with another stick or body!

Activity:

• Line the kids up in the 6 lines and give everyone a stick

 

Cradling

• Stress “lacrosse stick safety” and that the stick should not be used to make contact with another friend.
• Why do we Cradle a Lacrosse Stick: Ball will fall out when we run; Demonstrate ball falling out

 Cradling-Grip:

• Parts of the stick: head, shaft, bottom
• Pick up the stick without a ball in it with the hand you write with
• Top hand is the hand you write with-1 index finger down from the bottom 
• Bottom hand is at the bottom of the shaft
• Fingers go all the way around the shaft
• Stick head by the ear with the open side facing out.

Cradling-Motion:

• Top hand does all the work, and bottom hand is along for the ride
• Start by opening and closing the fingers on your top hand to turn the stick shaft
• Now add some wrist motion back and forth
• Now add some forearm
• Pick up your ball and put it in the stick
• Practice your cradling motion with the ball

 Cradling-Running and Cradling Drill

• 5-6 lines of players lined up behind the cones
• Everyone gets a tennis ball in their stick
• 1st player runs in a straight line to other side of the gym while cradling
• When reaches the other side, stay there and 2nd player goes

 Cradling-Red Light/Green Light

• Same set up as above
• When coach says Green Light, 1st player runs in a straight line to the other side
• When coach says Red Lights, player must stop and keep ball in their stick

 Cradling-Weaving between Cones

• Same setup as above
• 1st player weaves between cones cradling trying not to drop the ball to the ground
• 2nd player follows

 Shooting

• Stress “lacrosse stick safety” and that the stick should not be used to make contact with another friend.
• Everyone should look around them before making a shot.
• No player should retrieve the tennis balls from the goals until instructed

 Step 1:

• Without a ball
• Top hand is halfway on the stick; other hand is holding the butt end
• Turn shoulders like you would throwing a baseball
• Point laser beam where you want to throw
• Hands Back
• Reach high to the sky, make a swoosh
• Each player does one “shot” at each cone before moving to the next one
• Do this at least twice – there and back, there and back

 Step 2:

• Now with a ball
• First player cradles ball to end of line, stops and shoots before the last cone.
• Return to the end of the line and get a new ball
• As soon as the person shoots, the next kid can go

 Step 3:

• Once out of balls, conduct a ball hunt! Lacrosse term for everyone put 5 balls in their stick and return them to the buckets.
• Repeat steps 1 and 2 as time allows.

 Closing/Recap

• Who invented lacrosse? [Native Americans]
• What are the three parts of the stick? [Head, Shaft, Butt End/Bottom]
• Why do we cradle the ball? [To keep it from falling out]
• When shooting, what sound do we want to hear? [Swoosh, that means we are shooting fast.]

 

Day 2 

Setup

• 6 lines – dots/cones every 5 yards across the gym.
• Goals/targets/trashcans on far wall
• Lay sticks next to the start of each line along with the buckets of tennis balls

Key Skills:

• Scooping
• Cradling
• Shooting
• Additional Stick Handling

Stress “lacrosse stick safety” and that the stick should not be used to make contact with another friend. And that they should look around them before making a pass or shot.

Scooping

• Review cradling (proper grip, cradling motion without a ball, and with a ball)
• Get on your spot with a stick and a ball, leave the ball on the floor and pick up with your stick.

Scooping Technique:

• GO back to your spot and place your ball and stick on a square
• Scooping is a technique to get the ball off the ground into your stick without touching it with your hands.
• Scooping Grip: With open part of head facing you, top hand is directly under the plastic, bottom hand is a foot down the shaft from the top hand. 

5 Step Process:

• Stick to the Side:  With both hands on the stick, place the stick to the opposite side of your body from your writing hand.  This allows you to get closer to the ball, than if the stick is right in front of you.
• Foot by the ball: Foot on your writing hand side should be next to the ball

Note, on a gym floor, it’s tough to scoop on the slick surface. Have the kids scoop into the wall to help. If outside, it will be much easier on grass.

• Pair off. Each player takes 5 turns in scooping the ball. Then switch.

 

Refresher and Additional Stick Handling

Using the six lines and cone setup from Day 1.

Refresher:

• Keep elements when cradling: top hand does the work, bottom hand along for the ride
• Key elements when shooting: Turn shoulder, point the laser beamer, make a swoosh

Cradle/Shoot

• Have the kids cradle and shoot dozen times then introduce new concepts.

Switch hands

• Front of the head is called a mirror and we always look into the mirror when doing these drills.
• Right hand holds the stick and reaches to the right
• Meet both hands in the middle where left hand grabs stick and right hand releases
• Then move the stick in left hand to far left.
• Last cone, shoot

Stick Fake – High Medium Low

• Turn the stick towards you when you move it forward and then back
• Do this at eye level, waste and then knees
• Three fakes at each cone
• Shoot the ball at the last cone

Toss ball/Catch

• At each cone, toss/pop the ball up to eye level and catch
• Go to the next cone
• Shoot the ball at the last cone

Continue until time expired.

 

Day 3

Setup

• 6 lines – dots/cones every 5 yards across the gym.
• Goals/targets/trashcans on far wall
• Lay sticks next to the start of each line along with the buckets of tennis balls

Key Skills:

• Catching and Passing
• Cradling/Shooting

Stress “lacrosse stick safety” and that the stick should not be used to make contact with another friend. And that they should look around them before making a pass or shot.

Catching and Passing

Instruction:

• If catch without cushioning ball, it won’t stay in the stick (demonstrate)
• Think of the ball as a water balloon.  If you don’t give with it, will break, if you do give it with it, it will stay in your hands. 
• Don't want to bat at the ball, want to give with the momentum of the ball. You want to absorb the force of the ball.
• Hand placement – top hand high when catching; slide hands down when throwing
• Demonstrate open hand “give” catch drill (done in pairs) with another coach

Drill Process

• Partner 2 throws a ball to Partner 1’s open hand
• Partner 1 watches ball all the way into their hand, cushions back and tries to catch it without closing their fingers.
• Partner 1 throws ball to Partner 2 who tries to do the same 

Open Hand “Give” Catch Drill

• Find a Partner
• Get 1 Tennis ball per pair
• Go to the dots/cones
• Throw ball to each other gently trying to catch it with your open writing hand

Possible modification – kids can do this same drill without a partner by throwing towards the wall.

Cradling/Shooting

Finish up with fun relay races utilizing the cradling, running length of gym and shooting.

Builds can include the various skills taught during the week:

• Drop the ball once and scoop the ground ball before shooting
• Toss the ball to eye level and catch before shooting
• Switch hands